Movember has changed strategy and approach in recognition that “the moustache wasn’t going to engender the same energy forever”, an audience of charity leaders heard last week.
Paul Mitcheson, European country director of Movember, told the annual conference of charity leaders' body Acevo that his organisation had been too focused on fun, and had not paid enough attention to its charitable cause – men’s health.
“We have gone through a period of massive change,” he said. “When we first arrived in the UK from Australia, we did everything by gut feel.
“We were leading too much on the fun. We’ve become much more upfront about how we stand for men’s health. We exist because men are dying too young. And we’ve realised we need to shift the dial.”
He also said that as the appeal of growing a moustache began to reduce, the charity was trying to invent more ways of fundraising in order to remain relevant, such as its Move campaign which is based around exercise.
He said the charity had also lost out because its technology platforms were no longer better than those of other organisations. When Movember started, he said, it was an easier cause to give to online than other charities, but the intervention of services like JustGiving and Virgin Money Giving had closed that gap.
He said it had been difficult for Movember to make these changes.
“Change is rarely easy,” he said. “It doesn’t happen overnight. If it does you’re probably missing the main truth out there.”
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